DIY: 2004 Multi Function Display (MFD) PIN 60 Repair (1 Viewer)

[DomSmith]

****Please Do Not Attempt This If You're Not Willing To Ruin Your MFD****
(But it's already broken anyway, right?)


Seriously though I take no responsibility for you messing up your junk.


After several months of intermittent failure of the "dreaded MFD" issue I decided it was time to do something about it. It started slowly but eventually I suffered with climate control/radio/NAV failure about 50% of the time. Reading up on the issue it's easy to see that there are a couple of options:

1. Buy a new unit at full pull from Toyota $5450 (86111-60181 replaced 86111-60180)
2. Buy from CDan or the like $4000
3. Remanufactured Unit $1400 ($500 core)
4. Send in for repair $350-$450
5. Repair yourself


I do not have a lot of electrical experience but have done general wiring on my FJ40 over the last 20 years. I know how to solder wires, and make good connections but have no circuit board experience.

After reading up on some of the Prius sites and following a few of the MUD links I determined it would not be impossible to try to fix myself. Another member had mentioned that he had done the repair so I reached out to help make my decision. His repair has held up for a few years and he is not a circuit board repair nerd either. Thanks to Brian (Gray Matter) for helping me to decide to tear into it. I figured wost case scenario it looks too small and I decide to send it in for repair.

Here are the tools that I used:

-plastic trim pry tools
-phillips screwdriver
-3 colors of electrical tape
-8mm wrench
-tiny slotted screwdriver
-magnifying glass (4x and 8x)
-small soldering iron with tiny tip


EDIT: Here's the soldering iron I used. I filed down the tip as small as I could...

Other items to consider:

I used a soft beach towel to lay in the truck while removing the unit from the dash. I also made sure I had a well lit, clean work area with some soft micro-fiber towels to work on.


Step 1: Nav Removal

DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF THE BATTERY

I started by using some inexpensive plastic Harbor Freight pry tools to remove the left and right vents to either side of the NAV unit. I've found it easiest to pry from the top to clear the first clip and then just pull each vent out with your fingers. Be careful not to indent the dash foam at the top by prying against it too hard.

Now that the vent is removed unplug the connector near the bottom and place the entire assembly aside. Repeat on the other side.

Once the vents are removed you have access to the four screws holding the main NAV/Radio/Climate unit in place. There are two phillips screws/bolts on the left and two on the right.

This shows the upper left...

Lower Right...

Once the four screws have been removed you're ready to pull the unit out as one piece. I had a large towel laying over the shift console to prevent damage. The first step is to pull away at the top of the unit and slide it out, exposing the 3 alignment slots. there is a small overlap so you may have to GENTLY pry the dash lip up with your fingers....

Now you can pull near the bottom and pull out the lower alignment slots and then slowly slide the entire unit out taking care not to stress the wiring in the rear. This is what the wiring looks like behind it. (I had previously labeled some wires from a speedo correction install and DVD grounding)...

Next I marked each component and corresponding harness plugs with color coded electrical tape and then unplugged everything...

Here's the wiring in the dash...

With Step 1 complete it was time to move the unit to the workbench and tear it down...

 

[DomSmith]

Step 2: MFD Breakdown


Next I setup the unit on the bench and took a look at it's construction to determine the best way to get it apart and separate the MFD from the rest of it...

I determined that there were 7 screws I needed to remove (and 4 more to loosen) to get this thing apart. First I unscrewed the 3 gold screws on the back near the plastic face seam where the radio meets the MFD.


One on the outside left...

Outside right...

And center section...

Once these were removed I turned my attention to the sides of the metal framing. Here there are 2 black phillips/8mm screws on each side that need to be removed. There are also 2 gold screws on each side that need to be loosened (you may choose to remove them) to allow the two main sections to be separated...

Once split you can place the rest of the unit out of the way and concentrate on the MFD.

Rear view:

Front view:

Now it's time to open up the MFD...

 

[DomSmith]

The back cover plate of the MFD is held on by five small gold screws. Two on either side and one in the center at the bezel. Remove these...

Bezel screw:

With the 5 screws removed you can carefully remove the cover plate to expose the circuit board...

There are 4 gold screws holding the circuit board in place. They are pretty obvious. Remove these...

Once the board is unscrewed there are 3 wiring connectors that need to be disconnected. Pink/blue/white was an easy gentle pull...

The other two (mostly green and mostly blue) I had to GENTLY use a tiny flat head screwdriver to pry them loose. Be careful. You can break these...

Next look underneath the circuit board and locate the PIN connector and lift up gently to remove the board...

Here's the pieces you should have:

Next up: Building the courage to put heat to the circuit board...

 

[DomSmith]

Step 3: PIN 60 Repair


In all the reading I had done I was experiencing the typical PIN 60 issues described throughout the boards so I was pretty confident that was my problem. I'm no expert but it sounds like there was a manufacturing issue on the 2004 model year Toyotas for the MFD. Generally speaking there are documented failures of the tiny solder joint at the PIN 60 area of the circuit board.

This is the area we will be working on:

PIN 60 happens to be at the edge of the connector and these are tiny solder joints. Even with a 8x magnifier it was difficult to see anything obvious. Looking closely you could see what might be described as scaling on this one joint but it is subtle...

Here's an idea of the sizing related to a typical cross pen...

I bought this gizmo off Amazon to assist in the repair. I never clipped the circuit board onto this contraption but I did adjust the magnifier over the circuit board so that I could see...

I used a very small Weller soldering iron (I'll post up a pic later) that I filed down the tip to a super fine point. I did a test run with no heat to see how I might do...

Once I was comfortable that I could hold the iron steady and isolate the tip to only PIN 60 I decided to give it a go.

 

[DomSmith]

I started by plugging in the iron and letting it warm up. I didn't know how long it would take to heat up the solder joint but I wanted an idea of how hot the iron was before putting it to the board. I had read that it was imperative to have a clean tip as well. I wanted to see the iron melt some test solder, so once hot I placed a little solder up at the larger section of the iron as not to dirty up the tip. It melted straight away so I knew it wouldn't take much to heat up the joint.

I had decided I would just heat up the existing solder already on the joint rather than try to add new solder.

I placed the tip really close to the joint at PIN 60 and pressed it down slowly. It immediately flashed the solder joint and I pulled it away. It may have been 1/2 second of contact. I was pretty sure I had affected the joint one way or another. Either it was a success or I'd be going to an undetermined plan B.


Next up...



Step 4: Reassembly


This is pretty straight forward and basically the reverse of the previous steps.

-Place the circuit board back on the MFD and press the PIN connector back in firmly.
-Reconnect the 3 wiring connectors and mount the board in place with the 4 gold screws.


Place the cover back on and attach 5 screws (2 per side and 1 at bezel)...

Next line up the MFD with the other piece that it was removed from earlier and slide it into place. Be sure to line up the 4 black side mount screws and loosely thread them. Next use the 3 gold screws to attach the bezels to each other near the seam. Now tighten all 4 black screws and the 4 gold screws on the framing and the 3 screws into the bezel (these are seated in plastic so do not overtighten).

Now it's all back to one piece. Rear view:

Front View:

Now we're ready for re-installation and testing...

 

[DomSmith]

Step 5: Re-installation


First I placed the unit on the drivers seat and confirmed my color coded wiring was intact. I arranged the wiring in the dash to line up with the unit once it was in place to reduce movement in a precarious place...

I used the towel to again protect both the shifter and the unit from damage and reconnected all the wiring. Next I lined up the unit near the top edge and slid the upper guide slots in place. Next I gently pushed the lower part of the unit in place assuring the lower guide slots were aligned....

(You may chose to test your system here. I just reconnected the battery and did a quick power up. I wasn't going to do any more work on it today so I went with the full re-install before full testing).

Once fully seated I used the four mounting screws to secure the unit to the dash opening. Then reconnected the vent wiring...

Then firmly pressed the vent into place lining up the slot guides and assuring not to scratch the stereo bezel. Repeat for the other side...

Once everything is in place RECONNECTED THE BATTERY (If not already done so).


I turned the key on and the unit powered up immediately. I knew things were good when the outside temp display was working straight away. The stereo powered up and switched between CD, IPOD, DVD and XM perfectly. NAV and climate control tested out fine as well.

No change after starting the car or waiting a few hours and trying again. Although my problem was intermittent it did not work at all the previous day so I'm feeling good about the fix. I'll give a thorough assessment of the repair when more time has passed.

Here are a few of the non-MUD links I used as resources:

http://artsautomotive.com/publicati...2nd-gen-repairing-the-multi-function-display/

http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/mfd/

http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/mfd/twist.html




Thanks for reading!

 

[elk]

What a fantastic write up! This was one of my fears in purchasing a late model 100 (albeit mine presently works). I hope to never have to reference your guide, but if I do this is a great piece of information.

 

[Sandroad]

Thanks! '04 owners on MUD salute you.

 

[n55luvr]

Awesome write up!!

Funny timing too. I just pulled my MFD out last night and boxed it up to ship out for repair to the tune of $300.

Looking forward to never hearing the dreaded CLICK again. Those that have bad MFD's know what I am talking about. Hear the click and boom, everything goes black, radio off, etc.

It's worth noting that the previous owner of my truck had PIN60 repaired 4 years ago. I talked to the shop and they said they can re-repair it and they have developed a new technique that is more durable and reliable. Have no idea what that entails.

 

[paflytyer]

@e9999 I would like to nominate this for immediate entry into the FAQ.

@DomSmith this is a fantastic write-up. Thanks for taking the time to showcase this.

 

[e9999]

excellent detailed write-up. Nice pics too. Yes, FAQ worthy and added it.

Reminds of the time when my speedometer stopped working on my Accord. Unlike your smarter focused approach, I went brute force and reflowed *every* solder connection on the back of the ICB since I didn't know for sure which one was/were bad. Must have been a hundred at least. But it worked fine after that... Beginner's luck probably. But I'll take it everyday.

Nice job. I hope you're good from now on!

 

[BamaHeel]

One of the best how-to threads I've ever seen! Well done sir!

 

[OregonLC]

Nice work. Hoping I don't need it, but thankful it's here if I do!

 

[sjfj80]

Incredible write-up! Thanks for the detail!

 

[DomSmith]

Thanks guys. Hopefully this will give people the confidence to tackle this. I think the key is having the right equipment (ie:tiny soldering point) and a precise hand to just touch the joint for about half a second. Everything else is super easy.

I've added a few resource links at the end of the last post.

 

[Muddy Bean]

Nice write up. Sets a standard for the rest of us

 

[PADDO]

Thank you for posting, this will help a lot of people. As a young military technician we had to undertake a 40hr High Reliability Precision Soldering course to do what you did!

 

[Capt midnight]

Amazing post. You seem to know a lot about these dreaded MFD's, I have an issue with mine, all systems function perfectly, but my surfboard punched the screen and cracked it (my own fault). So I can't operate the system anymore...I found a similar MFD from a used parts dealer (2003 model) and have returned it because the connections are not compatible with my 2005 HDJ100. Now I'm really spewing! I don't want to fork out 5k for a new one, and I can't find any replacements anywhere...

Do you think it's possible to get the screen replaced? If so where?

Any tips or leads would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again

 

[Rocko9999]

Having the same issue but I am not sure I am up to doing this myself. Is Autobeyours.com still the best place to have them repaired?

 

[Robert Barfield]

Just used your directions to take a shot at repairing my MFD. spent the last 3 months waiting for the dealership to try and find a replacement part and they finally stopped returning my calls.

Since I had nothing else to lose, I decided to dig in and see how the guts look. Everything was exactly like you said and I had it broken down in under 30 minutes (includes time being patient with the vent panels).

Once I opened up the board and saw a couple little white specks stuck laying across the metal connectors on the outside of the 60 pin connector. I gave the board a thorough cleaning with canned air and the specks blew off.

I reassembled everything and luckily no left over screws and it's all snug and clean.

It has run for 48 hours without going haywire, previously it would last a hour max (or start haywire when I start the car).

I'm extremely grateful for your help and I know this information will only become more valuable as MFDs are harder and harder to find/buy.

Thanks again!